PC will no longer boot. Help much appreciated....

[stevebuckell]

Hi All,

I recently turned on my PC and received no output on the HDMI out (there is no VGA out on the integrated GPU). All that happened was a regular 'clicking' from the motherboard speaker, a faint click (not a beep) roughly once every 3 seconds. The system had previously been working fine for around 3 years - I've made no changes to any hardware.

To try to diagnose the issue I unplugged all non essentials, leaving only the following plugged into the motherboard:-

• 
  PSU (both 12v Power and ATX)
  55 inch TV (through HDMI out)
  1 x 4Gb Ram (of the 2 that I previously had)
  CPU Fan
  Motherboard speaker
  Power switch

I reset the CMOS.

I powered on with a single RAM card in slot 1
The CPU Fan spins, the speaker clicks every 3 secs, no beep, no output to TV

I then powered off and removed all RAM. I powered on again and this time with no RAM sticks the motherboard sounded continuous rapid beeps (not clicks), it also restarted itself after I turned the power off (continuous rapid beeps again)

I next tried to use the other RAM card, in the same slot (slot 1)
This time the system powers on for a few seconds (CPU fan spins) then powers off. It then powers on again without any intervention from myself (CPU fan spins), single beep, no video output. The system is now 'easier' to power off, in that there is no need to press and hold the power button for a few seconds - one touch is enough

I followed the exact same process again, this time the system powers on (CPU fan spins), emits a single beep and there's no output (so this time it doesn't turn off then restart).

If I plug in the two system fans, both spin.

I've also tried seating a single RAM stick into each of the four slots, no luck.

Any help to further diagnose the issue would be much appreciated! I have reviewed the guild at http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems but seeing as this isn't a new build and has been working fine for years, a lot wasn't relevant.

Many Thanks in advance
Steve

System:-

• 
  Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97P-D3
  PSU: Corsair VS550
  Processor: Intel i5 4690K (stock heatsink)
  Hard Drive (Boot): Samsung 850 EVO 120Gb
  Two additional hard drives and 1 x DVD drive
  RAM: Kingston Technology ValueRam 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Single Rank x8 DIMM Memory Kit - (2x4GB)
  GPU: None, use onboard GPU

 

[ChumP]

Well... from your troubleshooting this should be caused either by your PSU or your motherboard.
Try cleaning your system thoroughly (RAM slots especially), just to be sure.
After that you should test it with a known working power supply and see if that does something.

 

[cin19]

Try to remove the boot drive, all the HDD, all the RAM, make sure there is not disc inside the DVD drive, clear the CMOS, boot the PC.
If the PC can boot up, and get the display on TV, of course, the PC will not POST. Then that means the CPU?MB are fine, you can add the parts back one by one, you have to shut down the PC before you add other one.
If the PC will not boot without the boot drive and RAM, either the cpu or MB has problem.

 

[stevebuckell]

Thanks both - So CPU, Motherboard or PSU....

What I'm struggling with is that system seems to behave differently depending on the stick of RAM inserted....
ChumP - Any way of determining if it's PSU vs. Motherboard?
cin19 - Already tried, see original troubleshooting (accept I removed the DVD rather than taking out disc)
Steve

 

[ChumP]

Not really... just by testing with other working components.
I encountered simillar symptoms on systems where either the PSU or Motherboard were faulty.
I'm finding really hard to believe that both sticks of RAM went dead.